BMW joins forces with India's TVS

German firm latest to link up with Indian company

WITH India proving to be an endlessly large and rapidly growing market, bike firms the world over are scrambling to get a foothold there – and the latest is BMW, which has just announced a tie-in with Indian manufacturer TVS.

As with other similar deals, the arrangement will give TVS access to BMW’s technology to help it compete with rivals like Honda and Bajaj, while some new models will be jointly developed to help BMW get a slice of the Indian market.

The joint bikes will all be sub-500cc, and sold in distinct BMW and TVS versions depending on the markets they’re going to. That suggests the BMW-branded bikes will be sold in established markets like Europe while the TVS-badged machines will remain in India. All are likely to be made in India by TVS, since BMW’s European facilities are already running at full chat building its current range.